The First Disturbance
The first major event in the story of Elion. The very first one was—
The first one… it was the Strange Incident, wasn’t it.
The Strange Incident. To summarize its outline, it all began with rumors that a mysterious assailant was roaming inside the Academy. An intruder inside an institution under such tight security sounded implausible, yet the rumor didn’t fade with time. Instead, it grew stronger. Because real victims started to appear.
Fortunately, no one died. But one by one, people came forward claiming they had been attacked by the stranger, and the rumors spread like wildfire. Eventually, the protagonist of Elion would step forward to investigate. That was the basic premise of the Strange Incident.
Knowing the timing was drawing near, I began paying close attention to any whispers about it. Thanks to the notoriety Kyle had built up, there was hardly anyone around me, but rumors could still be picked up from the chatter of passersby. It wasn’t a big problem.
After listening for a while, I learned one thing.
The story had already begun.
It wasn’t in full swing yet, but rumors about the assailant were already circulating. Soon enough, victims would start appearing in earnest, and the news would eventually reach Elion’s ears.
Once I realized that, I began hovering around Elion from that day onward. I wanted to observe how he would act.
A few days passed like that.
Just as I expected, Elion caught the scent of the incident. By then the rumors had gained enough credibility. Several victims had already come forward, after all.
Realizing it wasn’t just empty gossip, Elion and his friends began discussing the matter and soon reached a conclusion. They would verify the truth of the rumors themselves.
As expected of our protagonist.
I couldn’t hide the satisfaction on my face. When I thought about what was coming, I had to help Elion no matter what. He was the only one who could clean up the mess that was about to unfold. Even if he had no intention of getting involved, I would have forced him to. Seeing how overflowing with a sense of justice he was, it seemed I wouldn’t have to worry too much.
Looks like he’s making friends smoothly too.
The last time I saw him, he only had Charlotte by his side. Now there were more people around him. Of course, most of their faces were already familiar. I had seen them to the point of exhaustion while playing the game.
Anyway, after watching Elion make his decision, I thought to myself,
I probably don’t need to step in.
I knew the difficulty of the Strange Incident, and I knew Elion’s abilities. Since it was the first event, its difficulty wasn’t particularly high. At this point in time, Elion had already surpassed the level of an average first-year. He should be able to handle it without much trouble.
Still.
I should keep an eye on things just in case.
I decided to pay a little attention to this matter. There was always the possibility of unexpected variables. What if something went wrong with Elion during this event? There could be no greater disaster than that, so I needed to be cautious.
With that in mind, I continued to watch over Elion’s group.
Time passed, night fell, and the group gathered once again. They were going to search for the rumored assailant. It was only natural—they had obtained information that the stranger always appeared at night.
Based on what they had learned, Elion’s party began patrolling the areas where the assailant had reportedly been sighted.
Before long—
“Found it!”
They reached the truth behind the Strange Incident.
“A-a monster?!”
The culprit behind the Strange Incident wasn’t human. It was a cat-like monster that had undergone mutation for unknown reasons. That was the true identity of the so-called assailant.
“How did a monster get inside the Academy…?”
“This isn’t the time to worry about that!”
Monsters were naturally hostile toward humans. Following that simple rule, the cat monster bared its fangs. Naturally, Elion’s group entered combat.
I quietly observed the scene. There was no need for me to intervene. Although it was a monster, it wasn’t particularly strong. If the first event featured an overwhelmingly powerful creature, the story wouldn’t be able to progress. With the current strength of Elion’s party, they should be able to defeat it without much difficulty. Even if Elion had been alone, he would have subdued it after a short fight.
So there were no variables. That was my judgment, and the flow of the battle unfolded exactly as I predicted. Elion’s group began to overwhelm the monster without much trouble. It looked like the fight would end just like that.
But then—
Kiiiiiiik!
At the sudden turn of events, I furrowed my brow.
It changed.
The monster’s aura had shifted. No—it wasn’t just its aura. The power I could feel from it had amplified in an instant. The pattern of a cornered monster going berserk existed in the game as well. However, what I was seeing now was different from the game’s pattern. In the game, the desperate struggle only made the monster more ferocious. But this creature had gone beyond ferocity—its energy itself had grown significantly stronger.
This…
This is dangerous.
The conclusion came instantly. And sure enough—
“W-what the—?!”
The group that had been dominating the monster began getting pushed back rapidly. If the creature had shown this level of power from the beginning, this situation would never have occurred. The problem was that its strength had changed so abruptly. No one had anticipated the monster would suddenly grow stronger, so their reactions were delayed.
In the end—
Boom!
“Kyaaaaaah!”
With a single strike from the monster, one of the party members—Delphine—was sent flying. Fortunately, she had protected herself with mana, so she didn’t suffer any fatal wounds. But she was no longer able to continue fighting.
Once their combat strength was reduced by one, the tide of battle grew increasingly worse. The fact that Elion’s group had very little actual combat experience played a major role. Although their individual talents were outstanding, most of them came from prestigious families and had likely never experienced a real fight. On top of that, they had never properly coordinated with one another, so their teamwork was far from seamless.
In short, the battle had tilted in the monster’s favor.
This won’t do.
Watching the situation, I made my decision. I couldn’t let it continue like this. Considering Elion’s potential, he probably wouldn’t lose, but the others wouldn’t come out of it unscathed. In other words, I had to intervene.
Having reached that conclusion, I picked up a stone from the ground. Without hesitation, I hurled it straight at the monster.
Whoosh!
Even though my body was practically that of a patient, my physical strength wasn’t weak. Having trained in mana manipulation since childhood, my body possessed greater strength than that of an ordinary human. And if I reinforced that strength with mana?
Even a mere pebble could become a lethal weapon.
Thud!
The stone I threw struck the monster squarely in the head just as it was about to pounce on one of Elion’s companions. The creature’s movements halted instinctively as it shrieked in pain.
Kiiiiiiiiik!!
It must have hurt a lot. I had packed the stone tightly with mana.
“Huh?”
“What…?”
Elion’s group reacted with confusion at the sudden development. But they didn’t have time to dwell on it.
“Get a hold of yourselves!”
The monster quickly recovered from the impact and began moving again. However—
Thud!
Kiiiik!
Thud!
K-kiiiiik…!!
The monster couldn’t attack Elion’s party as it wished. Every time it tried, I threw another stone to interfere. Although my body wasn’t in good condition and my mana reserves were low, making each throw less powerful than I would have liked, it was enough to disrupt the creature’s movements. That was sufficient.
“Now’s our chance! Attack!”
Elion’s group quickly regained their composure and began striking the monster. The creature tried to resist, but it was impossible. The stones flying in at precisely the right moments kept interrupting its every move. How could a proper fight even take place when it couldn’t complete a single action?
Kiiik…
Before long, the monster, covered in wounds, collapsed onto the cold ground.
After confirming that, I withdrew. I didn’t want them to find out that I was the one who had helped. My goal was to raise Elion. I had no intention of becoming overly close with his party. That would only restrict my own movements.
Drip—
“Ah… damn.”
I had pushed myself too hard. Blood trickled from the corner of my mouth. I roughly wiped it away with my sleeve and quietly left the area.
“W-we won……”
“Wow… I really thought I was going to die.”
Elion’s party let out sighs of relief after defeating the monster.
“I never expected it to be this difficult……”
“You can say that again. I didn’t even realize it was a monster, and yet we ended up in such a crisis……”
The short-haired male student, Rex, wiped away his cold sweat. Then he turned to Elion.
“Hm? Elion, what’s wrong?”
He asked because Elion was silently staring toward the bushes in the distance without saying a word. Elion gave an awkward smile.
“…Huh? Oh, it’s nothing. Stones were flying in during the fight, weren’t they?”
“Eh? Oh! That’s right!”
Rex finally remembered. The stones that had suddenly begun flying in the middle of the battle against the monster. Without them, the fight would have been incredibly difficult.
“Who helped us?”
Rex approached the bushes. Since the owner of the stones showed no sign of appearing no matter how long they waited, he figured he might as well check for himself. However—
“…There’s no one.”
There was nobody in the bushes. It seemed the person who had thrown the stones had already withdrawn.
“Who on earth was that?”
Who could have helped them like that? And why had they left without revealing their identity?
“…That wasn’t ordinary skill,” Charlotte added. The others agreed. Although they had been overpowered by the monster, everyone present possessed exceptional talent. At the very least, they could recognize the level of those stone throws.
The stones had restrained the monster at exactly the right moments. While the power itself was something they could probably replicate with effort, the true value lay in the timing. It was as if the thrower had predicted the monster’s movements in advance—the timing was impossibly perfect. Even Rex didn’t have the confidence to throw stones with that kind of precision.
That was when Elion spoke in a low voice.
“It wasn’t just the monster’s movements that were predicted.”
“It was all of our movements too.”
The battle between the monster and the party had been quite chaotic. The group had surrounded the creature and attacked from all sides. If the stones had only predicted the monster’s movements, there was a chance they could have hit one of the party members. Yet that never happened. Every single stone that flew from the bushes struck only the monster. Even while the group was moving around frantically.
In other words, whoever had thrown the stones had predicted the movements of both the monster and every member of the party.
“Is that… even possible?”
Rex’s mouth fell open at Elion’s words. It was a feat he couldn’t even imagine achieving.
“Who the hell… was that? Could it have been one of the professors?”
He didn’t think even a third-year student could pull off something like that. It probably required the skill of a professor or higher.
“And why didn’t they reveal their identity?”
The fact that someone had given them such tremendous help yet chose to remain hidden also weighed on their minds.
Thus, even though they had successfully exterminated the monster, a question lingered in the hearts of everyone in the party.
…Who was that?
The same question remained in Elion’s mind as well.